1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a surgical headlight that provides illumination to a surgeon”s area of work and, specifically, to an improved surgical headlight that has improved illumination mounted in the headlight device itself in the form of a LED illuminator.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of surgical headlights is well known to provide illumination to a surgical area in which the headlight is mounted on the surgeon”s head. Because of the head mounting, it is desirable to have a very light weight unit for the comfort of the surgeon while, at the same time, it is imperative that high light intensity be provided for the illumination of the surgical area being worked on.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,257 issued to Kloots, et al. on Oct. 7, 1986 shows a head mounting illuminating apparatus that includes video and audio transmittal component. This patent uses a fiber optic cable to provide light to an illumination lens.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,190 issued to Kloots on May 7, 1985 describes a surgical head lamp that is removably mounted to a head band that uses a remote light source transmitted by a fiber cable. With the advent of fiber optics, it is common to supply light via a fiber optic cable to a module which houses an illumination lens that allows the light passing through the lens that forms a beam to illuminate the surgeon”s entire work area.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,420 issued to Van Der Bel on Nov. 17, 1992 shows a headlight system that utilizes light from the fiber optic conduit that is directed into a housing along a horizontal axis.
Although many of the headlights shown in the prior art operate sufficiently to illuminate the surgical work area, it is desirable to provide a light source of high intensity while, at the same time, having a comfortable light weight headlight housing for the comfort of the surgeon. Furthermore, it is desirable to have a light source exhibiting a long life, energy efficiency, durability, low maintenance cost and compact size.
The present invention accomplishes the above by using a high intensity, small, powerful LED (light emitting diode) as the light source which can be mounted directly in a light housing mounted on the head of the surgeon.